David Amram:
To Laura for Ted JoansDear Laura: - I just heard about Ted's passing and wanted to tell you how sorry I was, and hope you will know that you are not alone, and that many like myself (I knew Ted since 1956) will always miss him, as you and his children. - So will all the people around the world of all ages, whose lives he … [Read more...]

Sad news indeed that old friend and ally Ted Joans has died in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he'd been living for the past few years. Apparently his health, affected by diabetes, had not been good, and though there is as yet no clear report, that seems at the root of what's happened.What to say about this terrific, unbeatable and indefatigable person, wedder of bop … [Read more...]

Ted Joans, one of the original Beat poets, was born in Cairo, Illinois on 4 July 1928. By his twenties, living in New York City , he moved in the surrealist world of painters, jazz players and poets. If a scene was happening Joans had it covered. A partial list of his friends reads like a who's who of the important creators of the 20th century: Allen Ginsberg, Ella … [Read more...]

Jack Foley:
GOODBYE, TED JOANSDon't let the minute spoil the hour.
--Ted JoansTed Joans died April 25th, 2003 at the age of 74. He was alone in his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia. His body wasn't found until May 7th.It seems odd--and was in fact merely accidental--that Ted should have died alone: he was an immensely … [Read more...]

T. Paul Ste. Marie:My fortune in life, my true fortune of connecting with wonderful people, grew intensely as a result of knowing Ted & Laura here in Vancouver, B.C.. I had first met them at a reading Ted was giving at Bukowski's Bar & Grill. Being a poet and an artist myself who draws heavily upon jazz and surrealist influences, it was a joy to witness one of the … [Read more...]

Cordley CoitTed Joans (unfinished documentary)
Music: Ornette Coleman's Empty Foxhole
Red beans and rice, wet pussy, nice.
We know where the .38 lives
where the rule of switchblades reign.
We waited for Brother Malcolm, Orly:
only for him he was diverted by death.Pause a full measure: Sax Solo
From the last of Ted to Shakespeare & Co.
Armed … [Read more...]

Harry Nudel:I must have 1st met Ted
in the Summer of '79. I was selling
books on Soho-St...he came by & i
gave him a copy of my book...2 hrs
later he was back "you WROTE this?"We hit it off. Ted who always
needed a place to stay, lived with
me for 3 weeks..he was the perfect
houseguest..as if he was a pro..
somewhere there's a picture he
took of ladder, … [Read more...]

Stephen Ronan:By the time of Ted's visits to City Lights I had attended at least one of his readings. Usually he would read at Cody's Books in Berkeley. I remember good turn-outs and a general delight with Ted's charismatic renditions of his poems of profundity and humor. He always seemed borne up by everyone's appreciation.He was singular in many ways not the least … [Read more...]

Gary Cummiskey:I met Ted Joans when he came out to South Africa in late 1993. I attended a workshop of his and was most impressed by his warmth, humour, humility and infectious creative spirit. He had emphasised the importance of simply 'writing down the poem', not worrying about issues of form or even reception, just get the poem out, let it live. I will also always … [Read more...]

John Bibby:I met Ted twice - in Timbuktu (1966) and in Algiers (1969).I remember his immortal first words - "Haben Sie Sardinen?" (I was wearing Lederhosen - he assumed I was German - and he was on the edge of the Sahara pining for sardines!)We spent much of the next week together on the top of a lorry trying to get to Niamey - I must admit, I found a week with … [Read more...]

C. Edward Bernier:Ted Joans came to us in the late 70s fresh from his wanderings throughout the Sahel. I was Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Dakar. He began slowly, with poetry readings about town and in the countryside. Then he moved in with us. Brought his trunk full strange and mystical things from the brosse. Bird skulls, feathers, sticks, and other … [Read more...]

John Bibby:I met Ted twice - in Timbuktu (1966) and in Algiers (1969).I remember his immortal first words - "Haben Sie Sardinen?" (I was wearing Lederhosen - he assumed I was German - and he was on the edge of the Sahara pining for sardines!)We spent much of the next week together on the top of a lorry trying to get to Niamey - I must admit, I found a week with … [Read more...]

Anne Baxter:The written word is not my medium, but I feel Ted would be pleased if I at least made an attempt to honor him and his "Teducation" though this great website. I first met Ted in Paris. It was 1988, and he came to my sculpture exhibit. My hermit tendencies didn't seem to phase him - we understood each other in a certain way as fellow Cancerian crabs. Ted has … [Read more...]

Dudley Merchant:I met up with Ted Joans in June of 1978 in Paris. He was great to read with and we had two readings together and a few more parties. Ted is alive as I think of him often. He was really against the French learning to rent their cars, car leases, and the debts of the ordinary citizen. I last saw Ted at a barge party on the Seine in August of 1978, before I … [Read more...]

Denise Enck:I've been writing a piece about Ted and will post it here in a few days. But this this morning while looking through a cache of letters, postcards, and ephemera Ted sent me over the years, I found this recent item which I thought I'd share with you now.Getting mail from Ted was always a treat. His newsy letters were often embellished with drawings, or … [Read more...]

Jake Lamar:
Paris 14 May 2003
I'm still in shock that Ted Joans has, as he would have put it, "gone on to the ancestors." I don't know what to say other than that he was like a father to me and I'm going to miss him forever.These photos were taken at---where else?---the Café Le Rouquet during Ted's last visit to Paris on March 24, 2003. Ted and I were sitting and … [Read more...]

Larry Keenan:Keith Scotcher:I was shocked to hear of Ted's death, having met him in Paris in March, first outside the Shakespeare and Co bookshop and later at his regular cafe in Blvd St Germain, he seemed in good spirits and looked well. He was looking forward to getting some income from a book he was preparing and hoped to use the money to visit the African … [Read more...]

Rik Lina:This is one of the many cadavre-exquises Ted made people to do, must be more than thousand...note the small text he wrote in it: "cadavrexquis is not dead." Laura Corsiglia, Ted and I made it 19 June in Amsterdam 2001.please click on photo to view a much larger imageHammond Guthrie:
AlphaRhythmicAfterBeatsAt best, or at the very least,
Be - … [Read more...]

Howard Park:
I only met Ted Joans once, at the 1994 NYU Beat Conference. According to my somewhat altered consciousness and memory of the time, Ted and Jack Micheline stole the show. At the time, Ted was living, at least part-time, in Timbuktu (did I spell it right?). He seemed to delight in the reactions of young white kids like myself who had never met anyone from … [Read more...]

Jim Haynes:
Ted Joans and I have been close friends and associates since our first meeting in Edinburgh in 1960. He stayed in my home in Edinburgh, later in London and often in Paris. I launched my kitchen-table publishing house, Handshake Editions, to publish a small collection of his poetry, Duck Butter Poems, to coincide with a reading at UNESCO in the early 80s. … [Read more...]

When Charlie Parker died, Ted Joans coined the phrase 'BIRD LIVES' and wrote it in chalk or charcoal on walls. Laura Corsiglia suggests that we remember Ted in the same way:GRAB SOME SIDEWALK CHALK OR CHARCOAL AND WRITE "TED JOANS LIVES" EVERYWHERE YOU CAN!jimmy bruchListen! can you hear it? i hear him now that old Ted Joans. i hear the beat, beat, beat, the beat of … [Read more...]

Tributes & Celebrations:
TED JOANS LIVES! A TRIBUTE is found on this website. To contribute, please email us.A celebration of Ted Joans' life took place in Vancouver B.C. on Wednesday, May 14.The Isis Gallery in Seattle hosted an evening in remembrance of Ted on June 6, 2003.Al Aronowitz & others remember Ted Joans at The Blacklisted Journalist.A tribute to … [Read more...]